


Sons and Daughters

by barley_and_rye



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: (homo zone is dustin/jeremy lol), Angst, Bad Decisions, Betrayal, Blood, Conspiracy, Drama, F/F, Fluff, Greek Mythos, M/M, Neglect, Quests, Recovery, Very planned out, character arcs! woo!, expensive headphones, fast burn, for the main ship actually happening anyway..., homo zone, it's in the background but it exists!, lol, magic swords n such, ohhhhh the monsters are cool like later along the monsters are v cool i like them sdhfsfg, prepare for angst, the gods are really bad parents, this au is wild
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-10-01 16:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20340499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barley_and_rye/pseuds/barley_and_rye
Summary: A Percy Jackson Be More Chill au that has been in the works for A WHILE.It's gonna be a long one; hopefully, the plot is interesting. I don't really know what to explain about it here without spoiling it but it is dramatic and gay, there's a lot of grey morality etc etcLot's of cute fluff as well, if that sweetens the deal for you lolI hope you like it :)





	1. Part 1: New Kid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quarktrinity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quarktrinity/gifts).

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUARK!!!
> 
> Thank you so much for brainstorming this au with me, it was a lot of fun. Another one of our kids is out in the wild now lol. But yeah generally you're just really cool and I'm glad such a great writer and great person is my friend :)
> 
> tw blood, not that much it's just small cuts but still.

Jeremy didn’t want to be a half-blood.

  


Or a demigod.

  


Or whatever. 

  


He didn’t even get the luxury of some grand reveal!   
  


Most kids probably got in some crazy monster fight age 10, or they got to camp just in time before some empousai could rip off their head, or they lived like a wolf in the wild and were found by a satyr and saved all of their friends from certain death having some dramatic fucking adventure of a time, but  _ noooooooooooo _ .    
  
Jeremy Heere got a road trip.   
  
“Jeremy…”

  


He groaned and shifted in his sleep. 

  


“Jeremy.” His dad shook his shoulders.    
  
Jeremy groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

  


“...Yeah?”

  


It was his fourteenth birthday, and he was getting a really fun gift:

  


“We’re going out.”

  


Jeremy tilted his head, squinting at his dad. 

  


“...Why?”

  


His dad looked at him with… _ something _ in his eyes. “...I’ll explain in the car. Can you pack a bag for me?”

  


Jeremy paused. “...Yeah, sure.” 

  


As his dad left the room, Jeremy got out of bed and started to gather some of his things. He could feel anxiety eating away at his chest. 

  


A change of clothes, a notebook, pens, pencils, a book, water bottle...

  


He was definitely about to collapse. 

  


His backpack fully packed and leant against the bed, Jeremy dragged himself into the bathroom.    
  
In the mirror his face was pale and shadowy, while his hair was stuck messy to his forehead. 

  


'Handsome in a unique way,' his dad said. 

  


Jeremy splashed some water onto his face, which seemed to make his vision come a bit more into focus. The sound of the running faucet vibrated through his head. 

He combed his fingers through his hair and, ta da! That was all the effort he was willing to put in today. It’s not like he had anyone to show off for. 

  


Jeremy trudged down the stairs with his bag on his back. “Okay Dad, I’m ready.” 

  


His dad was waiting by the door with a glum smile on his face. “That was quick.” 

  


Jeremy huffed. “...I th-thought I was a  _ slowpoke _ .” 

  


Usually, the two could hold up a pretty good banter together, but that day his dad just chuckled quietly and opened up the door. 

  
The sky outside was a purple-orange sunrise, like a fresh tie-dye t-shirt. Jeremy liked the sunrise in Middleborough. 

  


“What time is it?” he asked.    
  
“Uh…” Mr. Heere checked his watch, “...ten past six.”   
  
Jeremy gave an annoyed hum. His body yelled at him for sleep.

  


They got in the car; Jeremy took shotgun.

  


An awkward silence hung between them as they pulled out of the front drive. 

  


Jeremy watched as his home became smaller and smaller in the distance. He wanted desperately to just put in some music and enjoy the ride, but he still had no idea where the fuck he was going and his dad wasn’t talking. Instead he took out his phone and scrolled back and forth through the apps repeatedly, like a dove doing circles in its cage. 

  


His dad cleared his throat, "...So—”

  


-A roar shook the gears and something big and terrifying leapt out in front of the car. Jeremy’s dad swerved out of the way rough enough to nearly break off the steering wheel, and then slammed on the gas. Jeremy screamed as the car bolted through the empty streets. All he could hear was the creature’s heavy paws pounding after them, louder and louder, closer and closer. Jeremy whipped his head around to look just in time to notice a spike heading directly towards him. He ducked down as it smashed through the back window, then shattered the front.   
  
“KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!” his dad yelled. Jeremy followed the advice.

  


His side was littered with tiny shards of glass that stung like knives. 

  


Another spike went through the window and tore apart what was left of the windscreen. A million more glass shards sprayed over Jeremy's body while the cold air bit at his face. His heart pounded in his chest like a war drum. 

  


Jeremy never drove a car.

  


He never graduated high school.

  


He never had a girlfriend. 

  


He never even met his fucking mom. 

  


He never did anything.    
  
He didn't want to die.

  


He couldn’t control his breathing.

  


Mr Heere turned a sharp corner and Jeremy’s head smacked against the car door. 

  


“Sorry Jerebear,” he whimpered. 

  


Jeremy opened his mouth to speak but there was just air. 

  


“Do you have anything to throw!?” his dad asked.    
  
“Mhmm.” Jeremy nodded.    
  
“Okay, throw it.” 

  


Jeremy made a sound like a dying puppy and shakily started to shuffle through his backpack.    
  
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon c’mon…..

  


…

  


Water bottle...    
  
HE HAD A WATER BOTTLE.    
  
THAT WAS HIS BEST FUCKING THING. 

  


Jeremy slowly shifted around in his seat to face the monster. The sound of it thundering over the tarmac seemed to solidify. After spending as long as he could psyching himself up, Jeremy straightened his back and threw the bottle as hard as he could.    
  
There was nothing, then there was a howl.    
  
Jeremy yelped and jumped back. The car swerved again through the road. He looked up over the seat and was finally able to get a safe look.    
  
The thing Jeremy saw was a hulking monster with the body of a lion, face of a man, and the spiked tail of a scorpion. The breath left Jeremy's lungs and everything died down to silence as he watched, mouth hanging open...

  


The monster stumbled around in circles, pawing at its nose, whining as if it were just a kitten, while its tail writhed and jerked like it had a mind of its own. Just as it finally started to fade into the distance, the lion-man-scorpion-thing looked up, and met Jeremy's eyes.

  


A moment of mutual calm.

  


Jeremy almost didn’t notice when another spike came flying towards his skull. He ducked just in time and covered his head. He could feel the rush of wind. Everything sped up again into hyperspeed. 

  


They turned a sharp corner, then another, left, right, left, right, zooming at a diagonal through town.

  


Jeremy’s dad spun into somebody’s driveway as they rounded another corner, turned off the lights and pulled the key out of the ignition.    
  
There was a beat.

  


Then the creature ran past them into the distance, and they had lost it.

  


The pair sat in silence for a while. Jeremy stared quietly at the streaks of red making their way down his arms. 

  


His brain short-circuited.

  


"... Jere… you okay?" 

  


Jeremy looked up at him, dazed. “...Uh…”

  


His dad sighed, “That’s okay...”

  


The town was completely asleep around them, somehow unaware of the rampage.

  


“...What was that?” Jeremy finally spoke up, blinking the tears out of his eyes. 

  


“...I don’t know what they’re called.” 

  


“Right, but you know what they are then?”

  


There was a pause, then Mr Heere put his key in the ignition and turned on the engine.

  


“Dad.”

  


He drove out of the driveway and carried on in their original direction.

  


“Dad.  _ Tell me wh-what’s going on." _

  


Mr Heere started speaking like he was reading from a script. “You’re not safe in Middleborough. They warned me you’d get attacked at some point but I didn’t listen and now... “ He started choking up, “...I gotta protect you.” 

  


“What does that even  _ mean??? _ ” Jeremy felt a thunderstorm bubbling in his stomach. 

  


“You’re not  _ normal  _ Jeremy.”

  


“Wow, thanks for reminding me.”

  


“No that’s—” Mr. Heere rubbed his face, “That’s not what I meant.” 

  


Jeremy looked out the window with a scowl on his face. The houses rolled past.

  


“... You’ll understand when we get there.” 

  


He didn’t reply.

  


They sat in silence for three gruelling hours, driving across state to God knows where. The town turned into cities, then a countryside, then a field dotted with trees. 

  


Jeremy started to wonder if there was a 'there'. Maybe they'd just keep driving forever. Maybe another crazy monster would show up and kill them in cold blood. Maybe his dad was gonna drop him off in the middle of nowhere because he finally decided he didn't want his son.

  


The car slowed to a stop at the bottom of a large hill. At the top shone a grand looking pine tree that caught the morning sun like a firecracker.

  


"... Are we here?" Jeremy asked.

  


His dad stared straight ahead with an unreadable expression. 

  


"...Yep." 

  


"...I still don't get it." 

  


"I know."

  


His dad turned off the engine and got out of the car. After a moment, Jeremy realised he was meant to do the same. 

  


He looked between his dad and the pine, bewildered. 

  


Mr. Heere started walking towards the hill. Jeremy followed quickly behind.

  


"It's a summer camp," his dad finally explained.

  


Jeremy could almost laugh. "A summer camp."

  


"Okay, well, it's more complicated than that, but I can't explain it. I'm just… I'm just me." He lowered his eyes. "...When you were little, somebody who works here found us and told me I should take you here every summer at least for safety. But I wanted my kid, so I didn't, and now I've started seeing things like that lion-scorpion- _ thing _ show up and I figured I should swallow my pride."

  


Jeremy didn't respond. He hoped his dad would snap out of this and take it back, but… he didn't. They kept walking, Jeremy's heart rate steadily increasing along the way.

  


When they finally reached the top of the hill-

  


Just… wow.

  


Endless strawberry fields. A glowing blue ocean, perfect along the entire coast. Teenagers running from building to building, laughing. It was like something out of a fantasy movie.

  


"...This is the camp?" Jeremy asked.

  


"Apparently," his dad replied, monotone.

  


Jeremy gave him a look. His face was grim.

  


"I don't see anything," Jeremy’s dad continued. "I don't think I'm allowed to." 

  


Jeremy scoffed, "That doesn't even-"

  


"HEY!" someone yelled.

  


Jermy yelped. His dad grabbed him protectively.

  


A dark haired guy in shabby bronze armour came running up to them, sword drawn.

  


"Who…" He panted, "Who are you? Are you gods? I’m sorry for yelling if you’re gods."

  


Jeremy stared at him. “I-... uh… gods?”

  


"We're not gods,." his dad interrupted. "This is Jeremy, he's my son. He needs to stay here." 

  


"Dad, I can-"

  


"Who's your godly parent?" The boy asked.

  


"Wh— _ my what??? _ "

  


"Y'know, your parent who's a…" 

  


He trailed off, then his eyes widened in realisation.

  


"Do you not…?" He looked between Jeremy and his dad. " _ Does he not—? _ "

  


"NO. He…" Mr Heere lowered his voice. "Can you explain it after I leave?"

  


" _ I can still hear you!!! _ "

  


"Right." His dad rubbed his eyes. "Jeremy, I've got to go, you go with…"

  


He looked at the weird armour guy.

  


"... Oh! Michael. My name’s Michael." Michael smiled.

  


"Yeah, you go with Michael. I promise it's nothing bad. I… I've not been very good at making this seem ok, have I?" 

  


Jeremy threw his arms out. "No! You haven't!"

  


His dad laughed. "...Just give me a hug and I'll talk to you later, alright?"

  


"...Fine." Jeremy stepped forward and hugged his dad tight. 

  


They waved goodbye to each other. Mr. Heere started his walk back down the hill and eventually he disappeared out of sight.

  


"So, do you want me to take you down to camp?" Michael asked.

  


Jeremy sighed and nodded. 

  


"Great! You're gonna love it here." Michael grinned. 

  
  


After leading Jeremy through camp, glossing over descriptions of crazy dangerous climbing walls, impossible force field barrier trees, and the volleyball court, the pair finally arrived outside a large baby blue house. Jeremy could just about see a man sitting on the deck, reading.

  


“Who’s that?” he asked.

  


“That’s Chiron.” Michael started to spring up the deck stairs, waving. “CHIRON!!!”

  


Chiron closed his book. “Good morning, Michael.”

  


“Chiron, I found something on patrol!” Michael bounced like a hyperactive slinky. 

  


Chiron’s voice picked up a concerned tone. “What did you…” 

  


He trailed off as he noticed Jeremy standing on the grass.

  


“...Oh. Hello.” 

  


Jeremy took a step back, and glanced around anxiously. 

  


“...What’s your name?” Chiron asked.

  


“Uh… I’m Jeremy…” 

  


Chiron smiled. “Nice to meet you, Jeremy. My name’s Chiron."

  


"... Hi." Jeremy waved.

  
  


Chiron lead them inside and sat the pair down at a round table. Almost immediately he went off into an explanation of Greek Mythology. It started with the basics: a summary of the Olympians, who Kronos is (or rather, was, but that's debatable), the rest of the important titans. Whenever Jeremy would ask why any of this mattered he'd get brushed off and it wasn't sitting well. Soon it moved onto different things, who they were, demigods. 

  


"...You're messing with me." Jeremy glared.

  


"I'm not 'messing with you,'" Chiron rebuked. "this is the truth. This is our world" 

  


"But none of this stuff is real! It's just myths! I'm not… this is a prank." 

  


"Someone might take offence to you saying that, Jeremy. How would you feel if one day people said you were just some practical joke?"

  


"I'm real though! I'm not some fairy centaur person."

  


Michael sat quietly, snickering.

  


Chiron stood up from his wheelchair and began to walk forward and then… the entire back of a horse followed after him.

  


Jeremy's jaw dropped.

  


"...Not everything is as black and white as you think, Jeremy."

  


Michael and Chiron gave him a moment to recover from his mental bluescreen.

  


"…I …how is that  _ possible? _ "

  


"The same way you are. Gods. You are a half blood, Jeremy." 

  


"...she..." Jeremy shook his head. “No.”

  


"Hey, it was weird when I found out too." Michael consoled him. 

  


“My mom’s not a god.”

  


Chiron exhaled. “It may be hard to come to terms with but—”

  


"If my mom’s a god, then who is she?" Jeremy stood up.

  


Michael and Chiron looked at each other awkwardly. 

  


"We don't know yet," Chiron explained. "She'll have to claim you." 

  


"I was claimed by a ball of fire," Michael cut in.

  


"Woah, what? Isn't that dangerous?" 

  


"It was  _ magic _ fire." Michael wiggled his fingers at him.

  


"It's usually some kind of signal above your head," Chiron corrected. "Michael's was… fire."

  


"What will mine be then?"

  


"That depends on who your godly parent is. Athena's usually varies between her symbols, Demeter's is grain, Aphrodite's is a dove… we'll have to wait and see." 

  


Jeremy slouched back in his seat, biting the inside of his cheek. 

  


At least there was a reason she was never around…

  


Chiron gave him a concerned look. "...Michael, why don't you give Jeremy a tour? You can introduce him to everyone."

  


Jeremy's chest tightened. "I'm… bad at people." 

  


"I could just show you around then…?"

  


Jeremy made an uncomfortable sound. "...Okay."


	2. Charming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fluff, it's just fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took a while!

Jeremy stood on the edge of a group of half-bloods, waiting for pegasus riding to start. He watched them all run off in groups of three to talk amongst themselves, while he sat by himself on a log, picking at the bark. 

So not much had changed in a year. 

“HEY LOG GUY.” 

  
A loud guitar chord rang through the air and smacked Jeremy in the face. He jumped up to look at its source. 

Sitting across the clearing from him was an East Asian guy with an acoustic guitar across his lap, grinning like a madman. 

Jeremy glanced around awkwardly then weakly smiled back, cautious of what was going to happen next.

After the semi-positive response Guitar Guy visibly gasped. He then shifted in his seat and started strumming and singing loudly,

  
“ _ Heyyy Log Guy, come over here! Wanna see you near, get a good look at your face! Isn’t it time to find a new time and place? _ ”

Jeremy flushed and hunched his shoulders, feeling the stares and hearing the whispers of just about every demigod in the area.

...The song was pretty decent for improv… he hoped it was improv, otherwise it was just some guy singing some random song at you, you’re not special.

There was this tug in Jeremy’s stomach, something was pulling him towards the music man and dragging him away. He was frozen.

“C’monnnnn, please?”

Jeremy whined uncomfortably, grinding his feet into the dirt, then buried his hands in his pockets and started timidly walking over to the Guitar Guy.   
  
“...hi…” he mumbled once he arrived.

  
Jeremy watched Guitar Guy give him a once over, eyeing him like a snake eyeing up its meal, then start strumming again, quieter this time.

“Well here's log guy, standin' right near me, so I can sing all quiet and he'll still hear me. I still don't know his name, but I'm tryin' just the same to play this game, hope he doesn't think I'm lame!”

Jeremy felt his heart beating in his chest. The song was so stupid...

“Uh… I’m J-Jeremy.” he waved.

Guitar Guy put his instrument to the side. “You got here last year, right?”

Jeremy instinctively reached for his necklace and started fiddling with it, one bead so far. “Yeah…”

“I’m Dustin. Nice to meet you.” Dustin smiled up at him. It made Jeremy feel all tingly, like he should run away from and come as close as possible to Dustin all at the same time. “...Wanna sit with me while we wait for training to start?”

Jeremy was shocked at how many butterflies stormed his stomach at the offer. He hesitated, shyly half smiled in affirmation, then sat down next to Dustin in the dirt, thoughts pulsing through his head.   
  
Quiet fell between them as a warm breeze blew through the air. 

Dustin picked up his guitar again and started slowly plucking out a melody.

Jeremy wrung his hands anxiously and tried to focus on the tune instead of his beating heart.

“...you’re good at that.” He mentioned.

“Thank you.” Dustin smiled down at the ground. His face was pink too.

“How long have you played for?”    
  
“Gods, uh… since I got here? My siblings taught me.” 

“When’d you get here?”

Dustin held his breath for a moment and stared off in thought. “...six years ago?”

Jeremy paused. He was… here a while then… 

“...how old were you?”

Dustin grimaced slightly, nervously glancing at Jeremy, “...nine?”

Jeremy’s eyes went wide with concern. 

“Look it’s not that young,” Dustin protested. “A lot of people get here that age.”

Jeremy snapped out of it. “What? No, sorry- uh… I didn’t-...” 

Think of something to say, asshole.

“...we’re the same age then… I think...” he continued.

The playing stopped. Dustin looked off to the side thoughtfully, then back at Jeremy. “...You know what all of this means, right?”

“...w-what?” Jeremy stammered.

  
  
Dustin smirked and made eye contact. “I’m gonna be better at pegasus riding than you~”

Jeremy turned bright red and blinked. “What?”

  
  
“You heard me.” Dustin grinned. “I’ve been here longer, I've been doing it for longer, I’m gonna be better.” 

“You-... I-...” Jeremy opened his mouth to speak as if he could will words to happen. “...sure.”

“I am sure.” 

Jeremy fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt and looked away. “Sure.”

Dustin laughed.

There was a short silence; Dustin staring endearingly at Jeremy, Jeremy pretending not to notice. 

“...so who’s your godly parent?” Dustin asked.

Right. Jeremy knew that question was coming eventually. His heart dropped.

“I don’t know yet…” 

“Oh…” he felt Dustin’s smile turn pitiful. “That’s ok, not everyone knows. Godly parents suck anyway.”   
  
(He whispered that last part.) 

Jeremy jumped “ _ You can’t say that! _ ”

Dustin snorted. “What? That G-...” 

He trailed off. 

“...yeah, you’re right.” Dustin continued, “Don’t wanna get ‘smited’ or anything. My holier than thou relation likes to do that in the myths.”

“You’re saying some of them don’t?” Jeremy realised what he had said way too soon and slapped a hand over his mouth. 

Dustin gasped in mock horror. “I’m corrupting you already!”

“No!” Jeremy laughed through his palm.

Dustin beamed devilishly. “It’s already too late! My evil plan is underway because anyone who doesn’t like totalitarians is evil apparently!”

“ _ Shhhhhh! _ ” Jeremy put a finger over his lips. 

Dustin stopped, then bit his lip. “Fine... can you guess who my mom or dad is?”

“Um…” Jeremy looked him up and down.

A bright smile, brighter eyes, amazing voice, amazing guitar playing, absolutely gonna get him in trouble and could definitely fit in the Hermes cabin but...

“...Apollo?” Jeremy guessed.

Dustin threw his arms in the air. “10 points to Gryffindor!!!” 

Jeremy flinched back and laughed. 

Dustin put his arms down and leaned forward towards Jeremy. "You were right. Also, I like your freckles." 

Jeremy started blushing again. “Thank you… um… I like y-your… singing?”

“Thanks!” Dustin beamed.

“Where’d you get the song from?” 

“Made it up.” 

“TRAINING TIME, EVERYBODY COME OVER HERE.” a voice yelled into the crowd.

“Aw, we gotta go…” Dustin carefully placed his guitar to the side, pushed himself up off the ground and offered Jeremy his hand.

Jeremy stared at him with a pink blush over his face, then after pushing out the screaming in his brain, took Dustin’s hand and let him pull him up. They stood inches apart for a second too long.

  
  


Dustin looked completely caught off guard for the first time in the entire conversation. He stepped away and started walking over to the curve forming around one, Katie Gardener, still holding Jeremy’s hand. Jeremy was pulled along with him.

The campers all stood impatiently in front of Katie, you could feel the energy bouncing between them.

“Good morning everyone! My name is Katie Gardener, and welcome to your first Pegasus riding lesson of the summer! First things first, gotta do a roll call.” 

She pulled out a scrappy piece of paper with names scrawled over it like chicken scratch.

“Ariadne Clarke!” 

“Here!”

Katie carried on as most people zoned out.

Dustin nudged Jeremy. “Are you any good at this?”

“Pegasus riding? Uh, kinda I guess…” Jeremy whispered back. 

“The first time I tried it,” Dustin continued. “I fell off before we even started flying.”

  
  
Jeremy smiled. “I thought you were gonna be better at this than me…?”

“Oh, that’s still a promise.” Dustin smirked.

“Jeremy Heere?”

“Here! I mean, present.” Jeremy trailed off.

A round of quiet laughter went through the group. He felt himself shrink.

Katie cleared her throat and glared at some of the campers. “Dustin Kropp!”

“Present.” Dustin’s voice was almost threatening.

Everyone went back to quiet talking again, Dustin glanced back at Jeremy.

“...Ignore them.” he whispered.

Jeremy half-grimaced and fiddled with his sleeve. “Yeah…”

Not long after, Katie finally finished her register. 

“Ok, so, today’s lesson! We’re gonna run through the basic styles of flying which will probably take up most of the session? But if everyone does what I tell them to,  _ Connor _ , then we can play a game or something at the end.”

At that people seemed to straighten their backs as Katie and Connor Stoll stared each other down.

“Also,” she continued, “Pegasi are  _ awesome _ , so you have nothing to complain about! Pick a partner and a pegasus!”

Jeremy and Dustin immediately turned to each other, opened their mouths to speak, paused, then started laughing.

“Um… do you want to be my partner?” Jeremy asked. 

“Yes.” Dustin gave him a thumbs up.

They walked off together and picked a pair of pegasi  <strike> (palpably pining) . </strike>

Following Katie’s instructions, they then mounted their ‘horses’ and started to go through some basic flying techniques, staying low to the ground. It would have been inconceivably boring if  _ that’s _ what they were focusing on...

Jeremy noticed Dustin glancing at him over and over again. 

“...you’re pretty good at this. “ Dustin commented.

“Yeah?”   


“You are, you’re all…” Dustin waved his hands about. “...graceful.” 

Jeremy blushed. “Thanks. You’re also pretty good.”

  
  
“Thank you! I am.” Dustin grinned. “What do you think the game’s gonna be later?”

“I dunno… someone’s probably gonna annoy her before that.” 

“Nah, don’t be pessimistic! It’s not even been a week, people aren’t bored yet.”

“Maybe…” Jeremy flew a little higher, Dustin followed after him. “...it’s probably gonna be s-some kind of race or something.”

“Bet you’ll fall off your pegasus.”

  
  
“ _ I bet you are. _ ”

Just at that moment, Dustin nearly slipped off the side of his pegasus, holding on by its neck. He yelped. 

  
  
Jeremy grabbed his upper arm, stopping the fall. “Oh my Gods are you ok?”

“Yeah-!” Dustin laughed with a trace of panic. He quickly wrestled his way back on top with Jeremy’s help. “I’m probably just tired...”

Dustin sped up with a blush over his face.

Jeremy’s pegasus neighed in protest. “ _ Then you shouldn’t be trying to go faster! _ ”

_ ” _

Dustin pulled back to a much slower speed and almost fell off again.

“Hey!” Katie flew over to them. “Dustin you know that’s not how you change slow down, look-”

  
  
Jeremy slowed carefully to a stop and turned around to watch as Katie demonstrated the correct technique, ignoring Dustin’s complaints that he already knew it. 

After she finished, she whispered something in Dustin’s ear, grinning, then flew away to go help someone else. 

Dustin turned a dark shade of crimson and glared after her. 

“Are you ok?” Jeremy asked.

Dustin playfully scowled back at him. “She thinks I’m trying to show off.”

“Are you?”   
  


He hummed, “Maybe~”

Jeremy snorted and hovered there blushing.

Dustin leaned forward. “Hey, we should-”

“-FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT EVERYONE, COME BACK TO ME!” Katie interrupted from across the training area.   
  


Dustin jumped and rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s go…”

  
  
The pair flew over to Katie with everybody else.

“So, since everyone was cool today, we’re gonna do the game that I was talking about!”

Campers shifted in their seats with determined expressions on their faces.

“You all know stuck in the mud?”

  
  
Pretty everyone nodded.

“We’re doing that but flying. I’m gonna pick two taggers, they can tag you to make you temporarily stay still or push you off so you’re out, you can also push them off if you want, same result. Someone who isn’t a tagger has to touch you to give you the ability to move again after you’re tagged and yeah that’s how stuck in the mud works. You all got that?”

  
  
Everyone nodded.

“Good! Who wants to be a tagger?”

  
  
Around a quatre of the group put their hands up, mainly Ares and Hermes kids. 

“Not you, Connor…” Kaite peered around for a moment. “Jake and Ariadne!”   
  


Jake confidently flew over to Katie’s side with a smug look on his face.

“I didn’t even volunteer!” Ariadne complained.

Katie crossed her arms. “You never do. Your turn.” 

Ariadne groaned and flew over to Katie. 

“Cool. We’re gonna fly over to the lake for this, if you fall the nymphs will catch you” Katie turned around and gestured for everyone to start moving

The camp sped past them as campers down below waved up at the group. The view could never get less impressive, it was almost enough for Jeremy to swallow his fear of how high up they were. The endless forests, clear sapphire skies, the comfort of a home.

Jeremy noticed Connor flying by himself, giggling viciously and sharing a look with Katie. He flew up to him.

“...hey.” Jeremy quietly greeted.

“Hm? Oh, hey Jeremy!” Connor gave him a toothy grin. 

“Why is Katie so mad at you?”

  
  
You could almost see the devil horns sprout from his skull. “You’re not gonna tell anyone about my secret crimes, are you?”

  
  
Jeremy shook his head.

Connor lowered his voice. “...i’ve been hinting that I’m gonna do something all day but the big surprise is, that I’m  _ not _ , and I'm seeing how long I can keep this going because every time I hint at it she’s getting more and more annoyed and it’s hilarious.”

“That’s it?” Jeremy asked.

“Also I did something to her whistle but shhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” Connor flew off, laughing.

“Heyyyyy, Jeremy!” Dustin did a little barrel roll, nearly falling off again.

Jeremy turned to look at him. “Yeah?”

Dustin was gripping his pegasus like a koala.

“Uh-, sorry-, hold on-...” He adjusted his position and sat up, then looked back at Jeremy with a glare of sunlight lining his head. “You’re gonna fall~”

Jeremy laughed nervously. “No.”   
  


“You’re gonna!” 

“Says the guy who’s almost fallen off l-like three times today.” 

“I’m sleep deprived!” Dustin protested. 

“Sure.” 

“Asshole...do you know what I bet on you falling off?”

  
  
“What?” 

“If you fall off, then I get to take you on a-”

Katie started shouting again from across the front of the group, “-Everyone spread out we’re here!” 

Dustin huffed as they all scattered away from Jake and Ariadne, across the lake.

Jeremy and Dustin stuck together, at the outskirts of the water. 

“She’s going to fall off first.” he pointed to a girl in a camp half-blood tank top with short, choppy, black hair. 

“How do you-” 

  
  
“Ariadne’s gonna push her off.” 

Jeremy glanced over at Ariadne who was currently staring the other girl down, tying her curls back into a ponytail. 

“Do you know them?”   
  
“Yeah, trust me this is gonna be hilarious.” 

“EVERYBODY READY???” Katie yelled.

The group cheered in response. 

“THREE, TWO, ONE… GO!!!” she blew her whistle and talcum powder exploded into her face. “CONNOR!!!!!!”

  
  
Ariadne immediately sped forward, weaved around, and in no time the other girl was toppled off her horse. 

“YOU BITCH.” she flailed. 

“No swearing, Nicole!” Katie scolded, desperately wiping white power out of her eyes. 

Connor flew past her cackling. 

Nicole fell and landed in the water with a large splash. After a moment she surfaced.

“Oh my god I hate you so much!” she screamed up at Ariadne.

“Love you too!” Ariadne chirped back and went around tagging other people. 

  
“I’m getting you back for that!”

Dustin laughed down at her. Nicole turned and flipped him off. 

Jeremy covered his mouth with a smile, “Oh my god…” 

Dustin grinned at him, “Told you-!”

  
  
Just then Jake came in and tagged him on the back. Jeremy yelped and dropped down out of range but could still hear Dustin yell out in frustration from above.

“Dick!!!”

“HA!” Jake flew off again, then rounded a corner and started heading towards Jeremy. 

Jeremy made a panicked sound and quickly dragged his pegasus backwards and flew for his life. His heart pounded through his entire body. The splash of campers hitting the water and their groans of disappointment from being tagged sounded off around him like rapid fire. 

The only thing going through his head were the repeating words ‘don’t fall off, don’t fall off, don’t fall off’. Heights were a mistake. 

He flew around relying entirely on impulse for the next ten minutes, escaping being tagged by the skin of his teeth at least five times.

“TWO MINUTES LEFT.” Katie’s voice bounced through the air and Jeremy felt even more adrenaline surge up in his stomach. 

He turned to view the rest of the group. Only a few were still moving, one of which was Dustin who at some point must have been untagged. Ariadne flew after him with murderous intent. They dodged in between pegasi like a rabbit and a fox in chase. 

Jeremy scanned the nearby area for Jake and noticed him too, chasing someone else. Jeremy was by himself. 

…

He bit his lip as something inside his head clicked. A smile slipped onto his face and he slowly made his way forward, switching levels up and down between motionless flyers.    
  
Dustin and Ariadne rose higher and higher in Dustin’s attempt to escape her. Jeremy got closer and closer until he was practically shadowing beneath them, matching their speed. And just as Ariadne’s hand was inches away from Dustin, Jeremy shot up like a bullet, and before anyone else knew what was going on, Ariadne was falling through the air, and her pegasus was neighing and bucking and flying around uncontrolled, and Dustin and Jeremy were flying side by side. 

Dustin yelped and stared at him, slack-jawed.

“...hi.” Jeremy waved.

“...we’ve really gotta hang out sometime-”

“Hey!.” 

Jeremy looked behind him to see Ariadne slowly rising on a pillar of water, looking like she hadn’t touched a drop, looking angry.

She tilted her head. “You guys look cute together.”

Dustin groaned. “Seriously?! I just want to ask him-”

  
  
A large torrent of water shot towards both Jeremy and Dustin, immediately knocking Dustin over into the lake, screaming. Jeremy put up his arms to defend himself, sliding quickly down the back of his pegasus. Then a moment later he went over too, and they fell together.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm just happy with this chapter lol, there's a lot of wink winks. school starts tomorrow but I'm gonna try not take too long on the next chapter and I hope you liked the gays
> 
> please leave comments or share if you liked it cos i wanna live!


	3. Strawberry Fields Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff, it's more fluff, I didn't realise how many fluff chapters I put in before the plot starts, oops.

“Hey, you know that pegasus riding lesson? Where we were above the lake and everything?”

“Yeah?”

“I was gonna make a bet with you but I got cut off.”

“What was that?”

“It was that if you fell off your pegasus, I'd get to take you on a…”

  
  


Jeremy sat on the edge of the Hermes table, legs hanging over the side. He watched the orange sunset settle over the camp as everybody finished their training for the day. They were all tired, they had all at least grazed their knees, and almost everybody was starting to gather round the campfire, watching its flames lick at the sky.

Jeremy wasn’t doing that. He fiddled with the buttons on his fidget cube as he waited for Dustin to show up for their _ date. _

His heartbeat raced at a thousand miles per hour. Michael had helped him fix his hair and look less scruffy, but that did nothing to calm his nerves. There were about a million ways everything could go wrong and Jeremy could write about fifty essays on each of them:

Like what if his hands are too sweaty and Dustin tries to hold his hand but it's all sweaty so he goes 'ew gross' and leaves, or maybe Jeremy would fall on his face and break his nose causing Dustin to laugh at him and, heck, a cleaning harpie could fly down and kill them, or maybe… maybe Dustin would just realise the mistake he's making.

Jeremy audibly groaned.

Maybe if he ran away now, he could avoid all of the potential problems. But then he'd spend the rest of his life hating himself for missing this, so instead Jeremy just sat still, paralyzed, fiddling with his fidget cube. He was probably delusional, but there was something about Dustin that kept him in place...

For example: the hair, the eyes, the rest of him, his voice, how he talked, how he sang, how he walked and ran and fought in training and everything else Dustin ever did. And how he talked to _ Jeremy _especially, like… like whenever Dustin spoke to Jeremy he put on this voice… this voice like he was the most infuriating thing he had ever seen… and it made Jeremy want to throw up in a really good way. 

Gods, whenever Dustin was in the same room as him, Jeremy's stomach did loops, running round in circles, swarming with butterflies...

...Nope this is a bad idea he was in too deep he should leave-

“-Hey.”  
  
Jeremy yelped and whipped around, falling off the table in the process in a flailing mess. He landed on the concrete with a thud.   
  
“Hey…” he replied.

Dustin snickered from across the table. “Are you okay?”  
  
“Yeah!” Jeremy’s face was quickly heating up. “Sorry, you scared me…”   
  
Dustin walked over and extended his hand down with an amused smile on his face. Somehow he still looked wide awake in the evening glow.

Jeremy hesitated, then tentatively took his hand. 

It was almost expected now that whenever they moved close to each other, it took a second too long to pull away, a nervous routine. 

Dustin firmly pulled Jeremy off of the ground, then it took a second too long to let go, to step away, and a second too long for someone to open their mouth again. 

“So…” Dustin cleared his throat. “How was your day?”

Jeremy had spent the entire day waiting for this, whatever else happened was completely non-existent. 

“It was good… You?”

“Good…” Dustin’s had his hands shoved deep into his pockets and he was avoiding eye contact more than usual. "I got you something from the Hephaestus Cabin." 

"What? Were we going to bring things? I d-don't want you to waste any money or anything-"

"SHH." Dustin put a finger up to his lips. "I got you something, deal with it Freckles. Also it was free, Jenna owes me." 

He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held out a black, metallic pen. It was the most ordinary thing Jeremy had seen at camp all summer. 

"Uh… thanks..." Jeremy smiled.

Dustin gave him a knowing look. "Take the cap off." 

Jeremy narrowed his eyes at him, picked up the pen, then took off the cap. Immediately, rows of little gears, metal balls, a joystick, and a switch sprang from the casing. Jeremy yelped and dropped it.

Dustin laughed and bent down to pick it up. 

"Why-? W-What, uh… what was that?" Jeremy stepped back.

"It's a fidget pen!" Dustin placed the pen back in Jeremy's hand, grinning. "You said your cube was too loud, so I got Jenna to make this for me." 

Jeremy let Dustin's hand linger in his for a second longer, before they separated again. He looked down at the blue fidget cube in his other palm, then at the pen, then at Dustin. 

Jeremy’s chest felt tingly and soft. He blushed. "Thank you." 

"You're welcome!”

Jeremy started fiddling with the switch, it was absolutely silent. He slipped his old fidget toy into his pocket and tested out all of the fidget pen's various functions. 

“Uh, and It’s got a charm on it, so it will reappear somewhere you'll find it if you lose it.” Dustin mentioned.

Jeremy bit his lip. “That’s so cool.”

“...So you like it?” Dustin looked at him hopefully.

Jeremy opened his mouth for a moment, babbling for something good to say, then paused. He stepped forward and quickly hugged Dustin. "Yes."

They pulled away from each other; the fluttering tension could be cut with a knife. 

"S-So um, what did you w-want to do?" Jeremy's entire body felt like it was _ burning _.

Dustin, who was smiling breathlessly, snapped back into focus and glanced mischievously to the side. "Oh, well, there's a lot of things we could do~... but that would be breaking the law. I wanted to show you something.”

His chuckled at his own joke and smiled like sunshine.

“What do you want to show me?” Jeremy asked, playing with the ends of his sleeves.

Dustin opened his mouth to speak then held his breath. “We should find somewhere more private.”

The two found their way deep into the strawberry fields, where no one would find them. The fruit was ripe all year round thanks to the satyrs and the Demeter kids; Jeremy and Dustin picked off masses of it as they trod their way through. By the time they found a space wide enough to sit down, strawberries were piled up in their arms. 

The sky had turned purple.

Jeremy smirked, looking back on the dollhouse that was camp, “-And uh, that made the speakers blast the Piña Colada song all day so now I'm n-not allowed back in the Hephaestus cabin...”

"That was fucking _ you?" _Dustin snorted.

"Yeah!" 

Dustin threw a strawberry in the air and caught it in his mouth, looking very proud of himself. "I’m not allowed in there anymore either.”  
  
“Why? What did you do?”   
  
“I inspired Michael to make a fortune telling robot that told really fake fortunes, before you got here.”

“How'd that get you banned?” Jeremy scoffed.  
  
Dustin leaned in, “A warning arrow from my dad came straight through the window…”

“What? Why?”

“_ A-hole _ is the God of Prophecy on top of everything else he decided to pick up I guess, so I hurt his feelings.” He frowned dramatically.

Jeremy slapped Dustin's leg, “Stop trying to get yourself hurt.”  
  
“I’m not!” Dustin whined.   
  
“You’re gonna! You got a warning arrow, that's bad.” Jeremy casually popped some more strawberries into his mouth, "What if it's not a warning next time?"

Dustin did the same, rolling his eyes, "He hasn't got the guts."

"_ Shhhhh! _" 

Dustin stuck his tongue out at him, but dropped the subject.

After a while, Jeremy pulled the fidget pen out of his pocket and started absentmindedly flicking the switch.  
  
“...I’m glad I didn’t just get you like, flowers or something…” Dustin mentioned.

Jeremy blushed slightly and furrowed his brow, "You were gonna get me flowers?”  
  
“Yeah…”   
  
“Dork.”   


“Hey, rude.” Dustin scowled jokingly. “It was Chloe’s idea, she was like ‘just get him flowers, it’s not that hard’ so I said 'human beings aren’t vases, bitch', and got you that instead." 

Jeremy snorted at him and started laughing.

Dustin threw some fruit at Jeremy's face. 

"HEY!!!"

The sky slowly got darker and darker overhead until curfew passed and they were the last outside (but neither realised that). The stars hung above them with shining glares. They really weren't meant to be out this late.

“Hey…” At this point the pair were now lying adjacent to each other in the dirt. Jeremy stared up into the void. “...Didn’t you want to show me something?”  
  
“Oh! Right!” Dustin chewed on his knuckle. “I forgot about that…”   
  
“...Do you want to show me the thing now?” Jeremy turned his head to look at him.

Dustin had a nervous expression on his face, “Uh… yeah. You’ve got to promise to not freak out though.”  
  
“Why would I freak out?”   
  
“Because usually things like this only show up for…” He waved his hands about, “Big events.”   
  
“I promise.” Jeremy confirmed.

“Okay…” Dustin exhaled. Then an expression of focus then shifted onto his face.

He put an arm up into the air, while his gaze fixed itself hard on to his fingertips. Jeremy followed suit and stared curiously at Dustin's movements. Then, like a firecracker, Dustin's hand lit up in a bright, white light.

Jeremy’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit…” 

The light blew out and Dustin dropped his hand back down. 

  
Jeremy pushed himself up onto his knees and leaned over Dustin. “How did you do that?!”

Dustin gave him a lopsided smile, “I don’t know dude, I’m an enigma.” 

“That was so cool! Do it again.” Jeremy grinned.   
  
Dustin closed his eyes sleepily. “Uuuuugh but that's so much _ effort! _"

Jeremy faltered. "Are you okay?"

Suddenly a screech ripped through the air, and Jeremy jumped around to see a demonic harpy barreling towards them, claws outstretched, screaming the word 'LIGHT!!!'

He shrieked then flailed backwards into the dirt. He felt a rush of wind pass over him, then a moment later, a stinging heat leak out from his chest.

He reached up to feel his shirt, it was damp, and warm. A metallic scent drifted up to his nose. Blood.

"Fuck." 

"Oh nooo, a swear, don't let Chiron catch you…" Dustin chuckled sarcastically, seemingly unaware that he too had fallen down into the strawberry plants.

"Chiron… oh crap," Jeremy crawled over to Dustin, wincing at his wound, and lowered his voice. "We're out past curfew, that was one of the cleaning harpies, we've got to leave!"

"Pssh. The 'harpies eating you for dinner' thing is a myth-"

-The according to Dustin, not real harpy circled back round and dived down again, emitting a sound like nails on a chalkboard. It sounded set out to eat them for dinner.

Jeremy yelped and ducked, hands over his head, feeling the scratch of claws across his body much more sharply this time. He grimaced.

"Dustin, we have to _ leave _." Jeremy pulled Dustin up into a sitting position.

"Hm?" Dustin's head lulled sideways.

"Why are you being so weird?!"

"I summoned light, that takes energy!" he moaned, a little too loud.

The pair dodged away from another harpy attack. 'NOISE, LIGHT, SOUND'.

Jeremy sighed forcefully, hesitated, then slapped Dustin across the face, "_ Snap out of it!" _

"OW!"

"Are you back now?"

"YEAH, OW." 

Jeremy took his hand, tugged Dustin to his feet, and started running for his fucking life. Every time they heard that tell-tale screech they leapt to the ground, turning up the earth and uprooting plants. Quickly, they fell into a routine of clambering up and down, knowing taking a second too long would end in wounds a lot more painful than a grazed knee. And then they’d get yelled out for being out past curfew. Which would suck.

Up, down, up, down up.

Each were gathering a fair amount of nicks and bruises. The pain of their injuries quickly started to blend in with the ache of their muscles and sleep deprived headaches. But still, there was the pure chemical adrenaline and the lightning sparks from where their hands touched that kept them on their feet.

Finally, the edge of the field came into view. The harpy shrieked once more, definitely audible from the main camp, the lights of the big house to flickered on. A couple other harpies squawked in response.

Shit.

Jeremy slowed to a stop, panting and choking on his own breath. Dustin did the same. 

"...I ...hate ...running." Jeremy breathed, "They're gonna catch us..."

"Mhmm," Dustin agreed. "I'm sorry… for this."

Screech.

They ducked again.

"I-It's okay," Jeremy laughed through the pain. "This went terribly but it's okay." 

An authoritative voice rang out from the distance. Chiron. "Hello!? Who's out there!?" 

Jeremy's heart pounded in his chest. Him and Dustin made eye contact with each other, both with the same _ 'we're so fucking dead' _ expressions on their faces.

"You have ten seconds to come here and tell me who you are!" Chiron yelled. 

"We should run," Dustin said.

"Yeah, we should run."

They ran.

At this point, the most overwhelming pain in Jeremy's body wasn't from the harpy scratches, or the scrapes in the fields, it was the tightness of his lungs. It felt like his ribs were going to collapse in on themselves, his heart was going to deflate, and his head was going to explode. If he asphyxiated by the end of this, no one would be surprised.

The steady beat of a horse's hooves drummed out behind them. The rhythm matched the heavy pounding in their ears. Turns out running from a centaur wasn't the brightest idea because the sound was getting closer.

In fact, noise from all around camp was increasing rapidly — the two other harpies had caught their scent and campers had began to emerge from their cabins. 

Mortifying.

Michael was gonna have a field day with this when they were caught. Jenna would spread the headline, 'Camp Legends, Jeremy and Dustin, Scandal in the Strawberry Fields!'

Dustin gripped Jeremy's arm, flinging him and himself into the pegasus stables. The pegasai neighed in protest. Dustin tried to calm them down as Jeremy slammed the old door shut.

After that he ran to Dustin and they squeezed into the corner.

Footsteps approached them.

"In there…" Someone harshly whispered from outside. 

They leaned close against each other, trying to conserve one last moment of warmth. 

Dustin protectively held an arm in front of Jeremy,

"We'll be fine," he comforted.

"Whoever you are, come out _ now _." That was Chiron's voice again.

Neither Jeremy nor Dustin moved a muscle.

The door started to crack open.

Time slowed down around them.

Jeremy clenched his fist, swallowed, 

And he yelled:

"_ LEAVE US ALONE! _"

His voice cracked, sounding like the most pathetic thing on earth, but the door stopped moving as his words echoed through the stable, then passed through the rest of camp.

All sound died down into a whisper. 

A shaking breath later footsteps started up again, but they weren't coming closer anymore, they were going further away.

And further.

And further.

Until they couldn't be heard.

Then there was the sound of doors shutting,

Then nothing.

Nothing…

"...Was that you?" Dustin spoke as softly as he possibly could.

"...I don't know," Jeremy replied.

"...It'd be pretty cool if that was you."

"Yeah…?" Jeremy held his breath uncomfortably.

They both slipped down into the hay, exhausted.

Jeremy met Dustin's eyes examined his face. It was smudged with dirt and blood, but he still looked as handsome as ever.

Weirdly though, after all that just went down, Jeremy didn't feel nervous at all.

The night was still.

"Hey, um…" He bit the inside of his cheek. "Do you want to be my… boyfriend?" 

Dustin's face turned beet red. "What?"

Oh no it was back. "I mean I-It's ok if you d-don't want to I just thought that y'know since we've been hanging out so much a-and everything I'm sorry I-" 

Dustin put his hands on Jeremy's shoulders. "Yes." 

"W-What???"

"Yes, idiot!"

"Oh! Cool!" 

"Yeah!" 

Suddenly Dustin's lips crashed into Jeremy's. Jeremy yelped, but smiled, completely unsure of what was going on but going with it for once. He laughed into the kiss and leaned forward.

After a moment they pulled away from each other.

"Thank you?" Jeremy was delirious.

"What?"

"For saying yes, a-and, that."

"I was gonna ask you anyway, jerk, of course I said yes."

They laughed and rested against the wooden walls, squirming and smiling from the residual excitement and puppy love. 

Jeremy watched Dustin's eyes as gears visibly whirred behind them.

"...Do you want to know how my powers work?" Dustin asked.

Jeremy exhaled and squinted his eyes. "Magic?"

"No. Can I tell you how?"

"Okay..."

Dustin's face lit up. "It's the power of_ photons! _ "  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOWDY IM ALIVE.  
Fun fact: i really hate getting started on writing fluff, dont' ask me why, idfk. But that's why this took so, fucking, long.  
please comment it's my life blood, i'd apprecite it <3
> 
> also i have no clue how to write kissing so SJDHGSDJFSDf

**Author's Note:**

> No matter how long I take to upload, I've been planning this fic for a very long time and if I finish anything ever it will be this.


End file.
